Here comes a first look at the Great Kingdom in 576 CY, and I must say it is very interesting to go back to the initial release of Greyhawk again. This is a look at the dying days of the biggest empire the Flanaess have ever seen.

There are a lot of considerations what doing this, for example what are the Provinces of the Great Kingdom? We have all familiar with the North and South provinces, but where they the only provinces of the empire or where they just more independent and powerful than the other provinces?

I have gone with the idea that there where more than the North and South provinces. Reading later sources, it looks like other principalities like Rel Deven, Jalpa, Nulbish etc where powerhouses long before they became the provinces of the new United Kingdom of Ahlissa after the war. The South province seems to be a leftover from the old Ahlissan Kingdom that predates the Great Kingdom, so it is kind of natural for it to be incorporated as its own entity.

In the north, things are a little bit different after the fall of the Great Kingdom, Herzog Grenell  continued to rule over his province. In the south a new  center of power emerged in Kalstrand that took control over all the neighboring provinces. Herzog Grenell got the leftover north of the mayhem in Rauxes. 

By assuming that most of the bits that makes up the United Kingdom of Ahlissa and the North Kingdom were already established in the old Great Kingdom its is possible to make a much more detailed map with a lot of interesting features.

There are some idiosyncrasies too, Rel Astra and See of Medegia for example. The Medegia entry states Rel Astra as it capital, but the Rel Astra entry states that Rel Astra "desperately seek close ties with Medegia". This seems odd if the city already functions as the capital of  Medegia.  

A passage in the LG Gazetteer on p81 sheds some light to this. The passage is about the Church of Pholtus and its Holy Censor who is "granted a fief to administer from the old city of Mentrey in Medegia". I guessed that Pontylver was the capital of Medegia but this passage seems to indicate it was more centrally located Mentrey, I love to find bits like this!
So I'll fix that for the next update.

Another issue is that fact that Nyrond had invaded Knurl in 576 CY, so that part of the map needs some more work too. Lendore Isles and the Spindrifts need more research too. Di any of you know that the most of the Grandwood Forest was an Impresial Preserve? I sure didn't until I read it and it's now on the map. I added the term Imperial Lands to those areas around Rauxes directly governed by the Overking himself. The Naelax royal shield needs to be added as well.

you can download this map here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kxc8znjjd5esr6y/Great%20Kingdom-1.jpg?dl=0

Still some work to do but this project is moving forward, and a new update will come soon!